Special Service and Features
Cargill announces Scholarship for IIT Madras BS Degree Students
Through this initiative, Cargill will support over 100 students from low-income families to pursue Bachelor’s degree in Data Science & Applications from IIT Madras
Cargill, a US-global food and agriculture corporation, in partnership with the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Madras  has announced a full scholarship for students who wish to pursue BS in Data Science Applications at IIT Madras.
The students would be selected based on the eligibility criteria for the Merit-cum-Means Scholarship. About 7,500 new students enter the program every year, of which between 25% and 30% fall in the category of annual family income of less than Rs 5 lakh.
The Cargill Scholarship will enable over 100 students from this low income background to fulfil their dream of pursuing higher education at IIT Madras.
IIT Madras launched the BS in Data Science and Applications in June 2020. The program has completed six academic terms and is stepping into its third year. The program was recently awarded the Silver medal by QS-Wharton Reimagine Education Awards for Best Online program.
More than 22,000 learners have qualified for the program so far and about 17,000 are actively studying. While 195 students are at the Degree level, more than 4,500 are at the Diploma level.
Thanking Cargill for their support, Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean , IIT Madras, said, “One out of four students undergoing the BS course hails from an underprivileged background. The Cargill Scholarship will provide such deserving and meritorious students across India, an opportunity to pursue their dream education from a prestigious institution like IIT Madras. Many of these students hail from families of first-generation college graduates, daily-wage earners, farmers, etc. and are already availing bank loans or various government scholarship schemes. This scholarship will play a significant role in easing the financial burden on the student’s family.”
The IIT Madras BS Degree in Data Science and Applications is a unique program designed to offer students multiple entry and exit options where the learner can enter and exit with a certificate, diploma or degree. There are four levels in the IIT Madras Degree program and to get the BS Degree in Data Science and Applications from IIT Madras, a student has to successfully complete all four levels.
Speaking about this partnership, Mr. Sumit Gupta, Country Head of Cargill Business Services in India, and Technology Leader at Cargill, said, “We are proud to collaborate with IIT Madras to provide financial aid to bright students from low-income families to pursue undergraduate course in Programming and Data Sciences. At Cargill, we care about creating equal opportunities and we focus on investing in innovation and future talent. We hope this support to STEM learning will be instrumental in advancing skills and knowledge and creating a skilled workforce. This is an important program for Cargill to promote diversity, equity and inclusion among communities in the near future.”
This program provides flexibility for learners and empowers the students to choose what they want to accomplish through this programme. Unlike the highly competitive Joint Entrance Examinations , in which very few candidates qualify, this program is more open and has an inclusive qualifier process which provides learners across the country access to IIT quality education. This is a great program for students from low-income families who possibly might have discontinued or taken breaks due to economic reasons.
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